high-ranking military officer gets caught up in the scandal that brought down general david patreaus. general john allen is under military investigation for allegedly sending inappropriate e-mails to jill kelley, the woman whose complaints led to the resignation of patreaus. general allen is the top u.s. commander in afghanistan. was nominated to become nato's supreme commander as well. he has denied any wrongdoing. so, how are these people linked to the scandal? how are they connected? follow us. we'll try to explain this. general patreaus resigned after admitting to having an extra marital affair with paula broadwell. a friend jill kelley asked to investigate harassing e-mails see whas receiving from paula broadwell. the "wall street journal" saying the fbi agent who initiated the

investigation at kelli's request is under scrutiny. the agent has not been identified but allegedly sent kelley shirtless photos of himself. started with a complaint about harassing e-mails. he here's what we know about the woman who made that complaint, jill kelley, married to a cancer surgery, she has three daughters, lived in tampa, well-known among washington social circles. they have been friends with general patreaus and his family for five years. friends describe kelley as an innocent victim about e-mails accuse kelley of flirting with patreaus. how does this impact the careers of the two generals but also implications as well in defense secretary leon panetta has asked that general john allen's nomination to be supreme commander put on hold.

for patreaus, panetta asked whether any kags that his affair started when he was still in active duty. >> we obviously are going to watch this closely to determine just exactly you know when that took place. but i think right now my view is, let's see what the investigation turns up and what the congress, these committees are able to determine as to what exactly took place. >> so a friend of general patreaus says the affair starts two months after he took over as cia director and ended about four months ago. four days after the patreaus scandal broke, investigators are trying gather information. what we saw agents searching paula broadwell's home in charlotte, north carolina, the woman involved in the affair with patreaus. fbi spokeswoman would not say what they were actually looking for but you can see they're taking stuff out. seeing the agents carrying boxes

and items out of her home last night. it's clear the scandal as it grows could have far-reaching implications. i want to bring in fran townsend a member of the cia external advisory board. it's confusing and complicated story but it's a web and it seems to be taking a lot of people along with it. the fbi turns up 30,000 pages of general john allen's e-mails. what are they possibly looking for and why are they -- why is the military investigating his e-mails? >> okay, so let's back up for a second, right? this starts with the jill kelley, woman in tampa complaint about harassing e-mails and it causes this web, as you call it, to unravel because as they look at harassing e-mails they trace to to paula broadwell, broadwell leads them to patreaus and as they looked at these e-mails now they clearly then go back and

look at jill kelley's e-mail and that leads them -- the center of the web becomes jill kelley and that leads them to general allen and we don't know who else, right? jill kelley, she's been referred to ace social liaison you mentioned seen in social circles in washington. i met her twice. she and her husband, also her twin sister in new york where she was attending anintrepid, a military social event in 2010 and 2011. she dresses provocatively, she's bubbly and vivacious, very flirtatious, and who knows who else that she was exchanging e-mails with. but we should recognize one of the reasons that we're hearing that general allen had interaction with her 30,000 e-mails, pages by the way is a massive amount of material. but she was involved in putting a program for care packages to soldiers in afghanistan and so you'd understand military

leadership in afghanistan in central command wanting to be support inof that program. >> sure. >> there was some legitimate reason she'd have interactions but clearly it tipped over some line. >> you say you've met her twice. general allen, he's someone who is highly respected and i met him in afghanistan last year, the tenth anniversary of the 9/ 11 attacks, sat down for 30 minutes, had a long conversation with him. people respect what he does. he's talking about moving u.s. troops out of the afghanistan, timetable, negotiating with the president. do you find it difficult, fran? how is it that you exchange that volume of e-mails and still able to manage to do your job, what he's been tasked to do? >> look, suzanne, i had the same reaction that you have, how could you possibly exchange that much over the course, by the way, not just 30,000, but between 2010 and 2012, over the course of 2, 2 1/2 years, pretty

extraordinary. he is respected. but i'll tell you, i think we need to step back, right from all of the salacious details about this. ask ourselves what are our priorities as a nation for military leaders? are we looking for perfect people or competent people? preferably you'd like both. what is important is what you say he's a general allen, like general patreaus, competent, respected, admired leader of troops and very effective in their command positions. and so look, in some ways i'd like the government not to be in people's bedrooms, churches, doctor's offices, you know? i think we want -- what is the role of the fbi here and why is it that suddenly they seem to have become the keepers of the ucmj, uniform code of military justice, where an extra marital affair is, in fact, a violation. >> what do you make of the fact defense secretary panetta has asked the president to hold off on nominating general allen as

nato supreme allied commander? is that a signal, indication from the white house, that he can forget about this promotion? >> in fairness, look, we've seen other generals who have been investigated and it has scuttled their promotion possibilities. cartwright was an example, wanted to become chairman of the joint chiefs and didn't get that though the investigation went away. this sort of scandal is like a stain that keeps spreading. and i think the white house would like to understand exactly the parameters of it whether they make a decision to go forward. the secretary of defense rightly says let's get to the bottom of it, understand, it's possible that it could go away but these are the sorts of things when you can find many qualified military leaders without these problems, these things even if they resolve themselves not to have a long-term consequence like a prosecution under the code of military justice tend to scuttle promotions. >> all right.

trantownsend thank you very much. we'll get more information on this. white house briefing coming up in 20 minutes. press secretary jay carney taking to the podium to answerer questions. a lot of questions, i'm sure, regarding just what this scandal means for the white house, what it means for the cabinet, shakeup happening in the cabinet, nominations na will be coming forward and of course the very important business of doing business in the second term and just how much this could be a distraction in the next weeks and months to come. many have speculated that he was murdered. now eight years later some of the questions surrounding the death of yasser arafat may be answered. a canvas inspired by conflict, syrian artists turn their pain into paintings. and this -- ♪ ♪ >> more than just a popular song by one republic, an anthem

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days of deadly clashes between israelis and palestinians are not over, despite talks of a cease-fire. israeli warplanes attacked mortar gets in the gaza strip including two rocket launch sites. militants fired another rock neat southern israel. six palestinians have been killed and 30 wounded. for israelis have also been hurt. over in the west bank city of ramallah, they're starting to the process to exhume the body of yasser arafat, the former palestinian president. looking for evidence that they might have been murdered. arafat died in pair ras in 2004 thought to be a blood disease. rumors have circulated for years that he was poisoned and earlier this year, a murder investigation was actually

opened in france. want to bring in michael holmes here. you knew yasser arafat well. i had a chance to see him at the white house once during the clinton administration. you sat down at least on six different occasions d got to know this guy. >> i did over the years. i covered the second intefadeh around that time and early 20000, late 1990s and intervi interviewed him a number of time, april '02, surrounded by israeli forces, and we followed a bunch of protesters who defied that, went in to see him, and warning shots were fired in front of our group and behind our group and we got in and saw him. and got the exclusive interview. that was a memorable occasion. i was at his funeral as well. >> why is there suspicious surrounding his death. >> there is always going to be predictable there would be suspicion how he died, he was that kind of figure. before he was dead, when he was

sick there were conspiracy theories swirling around. a lot of the doctors didn't know what he died of. and there was only one medical report that came out that said that he died of a stroke caused by a blood disorder, perhaps a bowel infection. rumors kept going. that he'd been killed and what's happened recently a few months ago, a news documentary team had some of his possessions that they got from the family, they took to swiss researchers who examined it experts, and found this pla loanialloonium 210, it his hat he used to wear. bang, all of a sudden conspiracy theorists go nuts. now we're in a situation where his wife, the palestinian authority, they agreed to allow the experts to exhume the body to test. >> what do they hope to learn? could they prove if he was in fact murdered they would have evidence? >> you know that's an interesting question. this palloonium 2 so 10 has a

half life 238 days. if there's any there there won't be much left. if it does show up people will say he was murdered. then the question, by whom? the palestinians will say it's the israeli. israelis would say it's nothing to do with us. finding it doesn't show you who did it. >> michael, talk about this. you were at his funeral. what do you think his legacy's going to be what do you make of it? >> flowiknowing him as i did, covering the israelis and suicide bombings at the height, it's hard to find a polarizing figure in the middle east. hero of resistance to israel to millions of arabs and palestinians, and ut somewheter absolute terrorists such as israelis, father of the palestinian cause. he was the 35 years led the palestinian cause the first palestinian authority president

in '9 6. very polarizing figure. no middle ground when it comes to yasser arafat. >> and you had a chance to know him. incredible. >> good to see you. >> an extremely attractive place for investment. it's not a surprise that china making inroads into africa's economy. but is the u.s. missing out on an opportunity? a live report from south africa.

china's giant weeklong gathering of the communist party ends tonight. they bring together 2,000 delegates around the country to meet in beijing. they meet every five years. president hue hue gin pow.

china catching up with the united states which is still number one. it's beating the u.s. when it comes to trade with subsaharan africa which has vast supplies of natural resources. >> reporter: here's a little bit of china in eastern zimbabwe. this is a join venture between the chinese and zimbabweans mining diamonds in the controversial fields where critics claim some of the diamonds funneled to the party, claims the government and mining officials deny. when cnn got exclusive access this year, the chinese welcomed us with lunch and speeches. as well as a tour of the mining operations, eager to show off cooperation and development with

their african partners. many like the u.s. government are highly critical of the chinese venture and others across africa. critics argue the chinese exploited africa's commodities to fuel their growth. the relationship is uneven and near colonial. what's the difference between a chinese invest somewhere american investor, from your point of view. >> the aim is still to make money. >> reporter: what's the difference? why would you say the chinese have been successful on the continent? >> i think that it has to do probably with the policy of the chinese government. coming into a country, investing, and not really wanting to get involved. >> reporter: not asking questions? >> not asking questions. not wanting to be involved. >> reporter: not putting all those human rights issues. >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: beijing doesn't like lecturing other leaders says the top chinese diplomat in

africa. >> we do have questions but we probably ask question privately. we ask these questions quietly. >> reporter: the chinese emergence in africa hardly seemed quiet. last year the trade reached $ 166 billion, more than u.s. africa trade which is around $80 billion. the chinese are not only building roads like this one here in zambia, copper mining is a main industry they constructed cities in places like angola, the second largest oil producer. mostly investing in commodities and energy china gets a third of its oil from africa. many countries have become dependent on the economic might of china, and will feel the pain of any slowing in chinese growth. china's influence continues deep into the african bush felt. >> robin joins us from

johannesburg, south africa. excellent piece when you look at this. china overtook the u.s. as africa's largest trading partner three years ago. president obama received criticism from some africans, in particularly, kenyans, who had a lot of hope at least because of obama's father being born in kenya, there would be opportunities, greater opportunities for trade. why do you think we haven't seen that? >> just to put it into perspective, president obama spent less than 24 hours in africa during his entire first term. so africans do indeed feel slightly shortchanged. but this massive chinese presence in africa, to be fair, started way before president obama took office, 10, 15 years ago. the chinese started moving into africa. and of course their focus was africa's raw materials, its commodities which helped fuel

chinese growth. in a sense, did -- is america now having to play catch up because many governments, 10, 15 years ago looked at africa as a basket case a place that needed conflict. chinese came here and looked at it as an opportunity. the americans and many other western countries are starting to realize, hey, we need to sort of change our game plan. but as one u.s. official told me, this is not a competition. there's room for everyone. will i get the sense from officials here, u.s. officials, telling me here, i think for obama's second term there is going to be an upping of engagement in africa politically and economically. obama is expected perhaps to visit africa after the kenyan elections, if all goes well and perhaps come to south africa. i think things might change. >> thank you. another day of stunning

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silverado -- recognized for lowest total cost of ownership of any full-size pickup. from outstanding value to standing the test of time, chevy runs deep. a scandal that brought down former cia director general david patreaus has cut up another high-ranking military officer. general john allen, top u.s. military commander in afghanistan, and the man in line to lead nato forces in europe. well he's under military investigation for allegedly sending inappropriate e-mails to this woman jill kelley she's the woman whose complaints led to the investigation that exposed the patreaus affair. general allen has said, he's told the pentagon, that he hasn't done anything to wrong

and you know he's obviously up for this promotion. you know him very well. i met him in afghanistan last year. he's incredibly respected among his peers. what do we make of these e-mails, first of all? >> reporter: well, we don't know what they actually contain. we know that some of these 20,000, 30,000 documents -- behind me there's a protest -- 20,000, 30,000 documents may be examined in case they contain inappropriate conduct by the general. nothing proven at this point. obviously serious enough that it's referred to department of defense inspector general to examine it. we don't know quite what this holds for his future. as you say, very respected by the men around him. a man with an incredible difficult task winding down the war. and a man of course who inspired great loyalty in those who

served around him. i recall one aide who served through iraq plab many times, didn't want to go back to the battlefield but would if john allen asked. he described to me how they were together at a dining facility in iraq, the younger soldiers leapt for cover but john allen stayed in his seat and said, you're not going to win the war from down there. they're wondering quite where this came from. >> one of the things that he stressed, in our conversation together, was the importance of bringing u.s. troops home from african and training the afghans to take control of their own security. do we have any sense of whether or not that could be compromise or impacted in any way because he's under investigation? >> to be honest, on the ground what is happening won't be altered by scandals in washington at all, frankly. the course, the withdrawal patterns, training of the ana,

the afghan air police, something ordained years ago by white house policy and won't be changed on the ground by this. the whiff of scandal is it damaging, certainly. especially the u.s. wants the moral high ground and negotiations with the afghans. we're on the third isaf scanding. patreaus resigning from the post because of extra marital affair. now general john allen, that gives detractors of u.s. ammunition. >> he's gone into hiding and fears for his life. the eccentric founder of the mcafee anti-virus software is wanted for questioning in a murder investigation. lists all done. raise the roof!

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military veterans go through so much while serving our country overseas. when they get back home, you think things would be easier for them. but not really. finding a job could be tough. we caught up with one female veteran, taking her experience as a helicopter mechanic in afghanistan, training to become a wild land firefighter. collect it out. >> reporter: currently in the firefighting training with california conservation core. just pull. >> close it. there you go. >> offer a lot of training. it's really good they're doing this for especially veterans because it can be hard to find jobs. pla play with chain saw. practice laying hose from an engine, which we hadn't done, with actual watt. >> that influences the wild land fires. >> it's mostly veterans, it's

easy for us to click somewhere just work together. so teamwork thing fell into place really well. i was aviation hydraulics and air frames mechanic. i was stationed at camp pendleton and deployed to afghanistan in 2010. it was a bloody summer while there. i saw a lot of bodies coming back. >> i was in the u.s. navy for four years and ply job title was quarter master. we helped out with amphibious operations, we had a lot of marines on the boats. i was focused on navy, i never imagined myself being a firefighter, never imagined myself going through training. it's been challenging but the challenge is more than welcomed. i'm hoping that i get picked up with some fire department or i'm trying to get into police work, experience and hopefully a job. >> being a veteran, it's a big thing to me. it means a lot because i have a lot of veterans in my family.

it's not saying i did my time in service. it's saying i paved the way for people behind me in service. to celebrate veterans day or acknowledge the fact i did something like this it touches my heart. it really does. >> suspected of raising money for terrorist groups and believed to have inspired one of 9/11 hijackers. now the cleric is back at his home in london. released on bail today after winning his fight against extradition to jordan where he faces terror charges. the british government has been trying to send him back to jordan for years. tiny central american country of belize, there's a manhunt going on right now for american software billionaire john mcafee. police say they want to talk to him about the murder of his neighbor over the weekend who is also a u.s. citizen. the neighbor's body discovered by his maid and a laptop and

cell phone missing from his home. mcafee tells "wired" he's innocent. >> the scandal surrounding david patreaus continuing to get bigger. tangled web of relationships that has led to two powerful generals. we're sitting on a bunch of shale gas.

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scandals when they involve extra player tal affairs the former cia director and the highest leaders in the military become megastories. howard, this is your time to talk about it because this is big. it's a big story. thought we'd be talking about fiscal cliff, not even. we're talking about the scandal. what kind of legs does it have? >> an incredible future as a story, there are so many players. seems like every two hours we learn about new e-mails involving a woman, another general, a tangle and tawdry tail th tale. >> i imagine it has appeal for many different people. you don't have to be in the government or powerful to understand people are flawed, it's about fidelity, power. so many different things that we learn. >> it's a crossover hit, so to

speak. not only aimed at political junkies. it does have its soap opera aspect. journalists find this to be a juicy story as opposed to writing about white house budget negotiations with john boehner, particularly in the last 12 hours as we have learned about an fbi agent who was investigating the case initially who sent a shirtless photo of himself to one of the women involved and now these 30,000 e-mails, suspect e-mails between the general who had been commanding the war effort in afghanistan, general allen, and jill kelley, one of the women involved in this, which make me ask the question, when does he have time to run the war? >> right, right. i want to ask you, too, watching pictures of the white house in the briefing room and jay carney's going to step up to the podium, get a lot of questions, you can bet a lot on the scandal and the implications and this certainly has to be quite a distraction, to say the very least, the white house. how do they get on top of this?

how do they get ahead of the story in some way? clearly they're not going to want the president to deal with these questions tomorrow at the press conference. >> well, it's inevitable, you can put money on it president obama will be asked at least a couple of questions about the david patreaus situation at tomorrow's news conference. but the thing is, there's a lot we still don't know about when the white house was notified, why the fbi didn't notify the white house earlier, what happened in this case, for example, now that's gone beyond patreaus and general allen ensnared in this, why the white house nominate him to take over the top military post at nato without knowing that he, too, had come under scrutiny? until the time line gets straightened out, until the questions are answered, there's one thing that's like red meat for a pack of junkyard dogs in the media, it's unanswered questions at this hour.

>> junkyard dogs, we're not that pad. >> we are with the sex scandal. >> hopefully this won't last as long as the whole clinton/lewinsky affair we covered for quite some time. >> the women involved, it seems like nobody looks good in this scandal and people are having their private lives dragged into the public square. it's not like infidelity is unknown in our society or certainly not unknown washington but it's playing out in a particularly public and painful way. >> we'll continue to cover it. howard, thank you. one word, picture worth a thousand words. paintings by syrian artists are telling a story of their country, a country racked by civil war. while energy development comes with some risk, north america's natural gas producers are committed to safely and responsibly providing generations of cleaner-burning energy for our country, drilling thousands of feet below fresh water sources within self-contained well systems.

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despite the opposition's new coalition, syria's bloody civil war rages on, you can hear it there. as many as 48 people killed today. 41 in damascus area alone. the syrian government is also slamming the rebels' attempt to unite threatening any effort to topple president bashar al assad will be futile. giving outsiders never before seen look into their country, they are expressing their pain and their hope through paintings. in the midst of a civil war that has taken lives of 35,000 people in 20 months. mohammed jamjoom report oorns o art of war. >> reporter: pain inspired these paintings. here's person who wants to kill another person, says this artist. and here's a person who wants to defend this person from being killed.

conflict infuses these canvases, namely brutal civil war raging in his homeland of syria. the violence pushes me to work more, he says. to draw and paint. it's apparent in the faces, the abnormalities. abstract images made all the more poignant when he describes the horror learning how close relatives of his recently had been executed. i never imagined this would happen to anyone in my family, or that i would hear this news about anybody in my life at this time or even in the past, says a visibly up set map. it really shocked me. he's one of three syrian artists whose works are being exhibited at this beirut gallery. the men aren't just close friends. they're also former classmates. before the start of the civil what the art seen in damascus had been breauxing more vibrant.

as the situation deteriorated artists starting show indicating work in neighboring countries. he left for lebanon when it got too dangerous. his images, a dream of syria. >> artist is all about the message, send a message for the people. >> reporter: here, he conveys an idealized vision of peaceful coexistence. a crescent and a cross. >> we remain looking for the future a bright future. >> reporter: just around the corner, the works highlight a very different feeling -- dread. >> you feel like something can happen. >> reporter: that's his everyday reality. >> i can see the people, i can connect to them. we feel sad. we feel tired.

it will show in your colors. >> reporter: colors as vivid as life on an artistic journey constantly reminding of death. >> that is so powerful. mohammed jamjoom joins us live from beirut. talk a little bit about the country's been at war for 20 months now, how do they even nooj paimanage to paint, expres carry on. >> reporter: it's very difficult for them. having spoken to them separately they all expressed that they struggled with the fact that they don't know if what they're doing is enough to actually help their society to help the people of syria. you saw the person for whom it's most raw. he had family members executed. but he's driven even more to paint, to express the chaos that he sees going on back home. all of them said, no matter even at times they think about putting down their paint bush, they're driven to continue because they feel that as artists they have to document

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you might remember the band one republic from this hit song. ♪ good life good life this feeling that you can find♪ >> now the grammy nominated group is using its music to save lives. the band's partnering with save the children to help kids in remote areas of the world get life-saving care. millions of kids die from preventible diseases.

the group used record heartbeats. my producer talked to the lead singer about the inspiration behind this song. >> moment we first hear the heartbeats of these kids was kind of staggering. we got approached by save the children, desperately looking for a campaign song. we had been looking for three, four years for an organization to partner with. it's like how can you not get behind preventing kids from dieing? they went into jungles of guatemala and malawi and recorded the heartbeats of i think about two dozen kids, maybe more, using this believe it or not, iphone app. it was an incredible moment to hear those heartbeats. looking for the perfect heartbeat and we found one kid

who -- we pulled up the song and pulled up his heartbeat and they were going boom, boom, boop, da, da, da, da, and the song starts. ♪ we read about the campaign, listened to the heart beats, started flipping through songs and came to this one piece of song that we had and all of us at the same time are like, this is the song. ♪ the chorus very much is the save the children campaign, feeling better since you've known me. moment you interacted with me or cared enough to do something, i've been feeling better. ♪ it is a call to action. the line saying with you i feel again, and then the music, music

alone is a call to action even beyond lyrics. it's so triumphant. ♪ i feel again with you ♪ ♪ i can feel again if you buy the song, you know, every beatmatters.org or itunes the money literal goes to these kids and in actuality saves lives. i thought about my own kid, him having a fever or him being dehydrated thinking he'd like, what if my kid dies tonight? for us it is a wake-up song. the whole idea that you actually can make a difference. ♪ i feel again these kids have a chance of living because of you. >> that is absolutely beautiful. the band sold more than 220,000 copies of the song "feel again

"s so far. if you want to donate save the children's every beat matters program visit cnn.com/impact. looking at the biggest fireworks shoew by any country. marking 50th anniversary of the national constitution. more than 77,000 firework projectiles sent into the air. millions of hindus around the world are celebrating devalley the festival of lights. take a look. stunning images from one of most important events in india. students light candles near a floor design made with colored sand. the artwork honors the guard of wealth. vendors sell colored powder used for decorating homes and placed on dogs and cows to honor hindu gods associated with them.

hindus make up 22% of the population. one of our ireport sent us this image of actors dressed up to tell the story of good and how to conquered evil, key stories celebrated during the five-day festival. i'm suzanne malveaux. we are waiting the white house briefing. reporters gathering there. jay carney will take questions clearly on any foengs cabinet shakeups and the scandal that has shaken up washington as well. talking about another high-ranking military officer caught up in a scandal that brought down former cia director general david patreaus. talking about john allen under military investigation for allegedly sending inappropriate

e-mails to jill kelley. now she's the woman whose complaints led to the resignation of patreaus. general allen is the top u.s. commander in afghanistan. nominated to become nato supreme commander. he has denied any wrongdoing. so, how are these people linked in this scandal? we'll walk you through this. general patreaus resigned after admitting to have an extramarital affair with his biographer, paula broadwell. the affair uncovered because a friend of patreaus, jill kelley, asked the fbi to investigate harassing e-mails she was receiving from broadwell. well it's come to light there are allegedly inappropriate e-mails between jill kelley and general allen. in addition, the "wall street journal" says that the fbi agent who initiated the investigation at kelley's request is under scrutiny. the agents's not identified but allegedly sent kelley shirtless photos of himself. so, first, former cia director

general patreaus resigns. now general john allen's nomination to become nato commander is on hold. what does it mean for allen's career? how will this affect the efforts to wind down the war in afghanistan where you have 60,000 troops still deployed? let's listen in. >> around the world, each call he thanked his counterpart for friendship and partnership thus far and expressed his desire to continue close cooperation moving ahead. the president spoke with president karzai of afghanistan, prime minister monti of italy, king abdullah of jordan, president putin of russia, and president rohoi of spain. lie take your questions. >> a couple of questions about the scandal that many of us are covering. one specific and a bigger picture one.

general allen we're learning questions about him and the pentagon's investigation of his alleged behavior. does the president have faith that general allen can continue to lead the war in afghanistan in this critical period of time when he's under investigation by the pentagon? >> i can tell you that the president thinks very highly of general allen and his service to his country, as well as the job he has done in afghanistan. at the request of the secretary of defense the president has put on hold general allen's nomination as supreme allied commander of europe pending the investigation of general allen's conduct by the department of defense i.g. the president remains focused on supporting our extraordinary troops and coalition partners in afghanistan who general allen continues to lead as he has done ablebly in over a year. the president nominated general dunford to be next commander of isaf and reiterates his belief the senate should act swiftly to

confirm general dunford. >> is it accurate to say the president has full faith in general allen? >> he has faith in general allen, believe he is doing and has done an excellent job at isaf i refer you to to the pentagon under way with regards to general allen. >> to take a step back. it's been a week since the e-mail we've seen, the cia director resign under pressure and disgrace under the scandal and the leader in afghanistan implicated in this. what's the president's reaction to this? is he disgusted? is he embarrassed? what should we know here? >> well the president was certainly surprised when he was informed about the situation regarding general patreaus on thursday. he greatly appreciates general patreaus' remarkable service to his countrying both in uniform and at the cia. and as he said in his statement,

his thoughts and prayers go out to both general patreaus and holly patreaus at this time. he's focused on his policy agenda and he has confidence in the acting director at the cia and he has confidence in the military to carry out the various missions that he has asked them to carry out. on specific individuals, and matters pertaining to the recent revelations i refer you to the pentagon and the i.g., on the one hand, and to the fbi with regards to general patreaus. >> but he's not -- he's not shaking his head saying, guys, we need a more credible, confident sense of leadership? >> he's not going to make grand pronouncements or decisions about things based on, you know, two situations two individual

cases. he's focussed on the missions that the military's tasked with carrying out and the cia and the general intelligence community is tasked with carrying out, and with enacting his overall agenda which encompasses not just national security policy but obviously domestic policy. >> thanks. >> yes? >> jay, has the president spoken to general allen directly? >> not that i'm aware of. >> has he spoken to secretary panetta? >> vi have to check that. secretary panetta's been traveling. >> does the president see this as an unwelcomed distraction at a time when he's just -- was re-elected and has a bunch of priorities in terms of fiscal cliff and his cabinet? >> i certainly wouldn't call it welcome. obviously as i said to ben that

the information about general patreaus came to him as a surprise and he is very appreciative of general patreaus' remarkable services to his country. but the president's focused on the agenda that he believes is important for this country, that he has to carry out working with lawmakers here in washington. and that includes, as you know, his number one priority, which is jobs and economic growth. and he is engaging in meetings this week on those issues, on the issues of the approach we need to take to ensure that we have the right economic policy, the right fiscal policy to help the economy grow and continue to create jobs. he's also of course continuously focused on his foreign policy and national security agenda. he has great confidence in the

acting cia director, confidence in his military and the second of defense and the defense department to carry out the missions that he's assigned to them. but he's got obviously a lot that he wants to get to work on and he's doing that this week. >> broadly, how does this affect the national security team? >> i think these are specific questions about specific individuals and posts. i can say now, even though you haven't asked, i have no announcemented to make with regards to personnel and no speculation to engage in. i can tell you that the president has not made a decision on personnel matters and you will not hear me discuss them until the president has made those decisions and has announced them. >> regarding two specific people you can't extrapolate but two of the president's top military brass either involved in an extramarital affair or inappropriate behavior.

is the president worried about a culture, inappropriate culture in the military? >> i really would ask you to not extrapolate broadly. the president has great confidence in the military, great confidence in his commanders and will continue to have that confidence. with regards to the specific instances here you need to address your questions to the justice department and the fbi or the defense department. the president's focused on doing the work that the american people re-elected him to do and he's continuing to do that. >> does the white house believe national security was ever breached or threatened at any point in either of the instances? >> i think that questions like that, which go to matters under investigate, i refer you to the investigative bodies. the president is focused on the work that he needs to do and again i think there's been substantial reporting on some of

this and you know the president spoke with and met with general patreaus and agreed with his decision that he could no longer lead the cia and accepted his resignation. he has great faith in the acting director and you know the president's focused on the agenda that he wants to carry out. >> on another topic, you're not going to address personnel matters. does the president have confidence -- i know he's a big fan of ambassador susan rice -- does he have confidence she could pass a national confirmation for any post in a future cabinet? >> i will not engage in speculation of personnel matters. the president believes secretary rice has done an excellent job and is grateful for his service. >> this investigation has been going on for month. how is it that the white house didn't have any idea of this until the day after the election and congress a few days later?

>> i refer you to the fbi. they have as i understand it, protocols in place for when they notify the legislative and executive branchs of the investigations. and you know, it is simply a fact that the white house was not aware of the situation regarding general patreaus until wednesday and the situation regarding general allen until friday. so, you know, the fbi's a place to guy in terms of explanation of the protocols they follow. i understand that is the answer that they will give, that there are protocols they follow that govern how they inform the various branchs of government of the investigations. >> do you think people think it's utterly bizarre, the day after the election and anger on capitol hill? the time, at least the appearance? >> look, all i can tell you is,

when the white house was informed and i would let the relevant members of congress explain to you how and when they were informed. my understanding is there are protocols the fbi follows with regards to these notifications and i would refer you to the fbi and the department of justice for an explanation of those protocols. you know what, again, the president's focused on is the work that we have to do right now to help our economy grow and help our economy create jobs. and you know there are obviously a whole host of other issues that are out there and that he and other have to contend with and he and others are doing that. but his focus now is on working with congress to move the country forward economically. >> senator collins says that it's imperative that general

patreaus testify in the hearings on benghazi. we've heard similar statemented from senator feinstein. is it appropriate for the former cia director to testify given what happened at time and given his own review? >> one, it's up to congress to make decisions about who is called to testify. but the president is confident that acting director moral is fully informed of representing the krichlt a cia about the inc benghazi. >> i want to go back to something asked about ambassador rice. if she are were to go before a senate confirmation hearing hypothetically -- >> for you i'll break the hypothetical rule, nobody else. >> thank you. if she were to go before a national confirmation hearing, should she answer questions with

a simple yes? are questions answerable? >> i'm not sure what you're asking, april. i'm not going to speculate about personnel matters and who will or will not be participating in nomination hearings. i can tell you that the president believes that ambassador rice has done an excellent job as the united states ambassador to the united nations and i believe that -- i know that he believes that everyone here working for him has been transparent and in the way that we've tried answer questions about what happened in benghazi and going back to briefings that we had again and again that the information that we provided was based on the available assessments at the time and as those assessments evolved and became more detailed and clear we provided additional

information. and that was certainly true of the questioned that i answered and the information that i provided and it was true obviously of ambassador rice. >> and in the coming weeks there are a lost moving pieces on this chessboard. we also understand that governor due pal patrick is maybe one piece that you might be bringing in. he did have dinner with the president. could you give us a read out on that? are we expecting his resignation as governor soon, what? >> i have nothing to say about hypothetical -- hypothetical personnel moves. i can tell you as i did the other day the president considers the governor of massachusetts a very good friend. he's broken bread with him on numerous occasions in the past and i'm sure will in future.

and i was not a participant in this particular meal but i'm sure they had a discussion of a broad number of topics and enjoyed each other's company. >> a friendly meeting of business, nothing strategic? >> i don't have a read out of a personal dinner the president had. but they are friends. i would say, yes, a friendly dinner. >> is the president satisfied with the explanation he's gotten from the fbi? the conversation with director muller? >> i'm not aware he's had a conversation with the director. i can simply tell you that, you know, the process -- >> the president -- >> when the white house was notified. >> is he satisfied how this has gone? >> the president was obviously surprised but he -- as i think made clear by the statement that he put out, is very appreciative of general patreaus' service and both in uniform and at the cia

and as well as holly patreaus' service and wanted that to be made clear. there are protocols in place, as i understand it. i -- >> it sounds like you don't have an answer. >> i think it would be -- >> if he was satisfied -- >> i would not suggest that the president, you know, is -- given he was surprised he is, as i said before, pleased with events of the past week but the past several days but the fact of the matter is, you know, there are processes in place to handle these things. they are playing out appropriately and the president's focused on working with members of congress to enact an agenda that are import

consuming enough with regards to the so-called fiscal cliff and the budget that he expects that those who are engaged in conversations about it, and negotiations about it, will be as focused as he is and will be in the days and weeks ahead. so you know we have very concrete deadlines that are governing some of the actions that we have to take. what we know is that on january 1st, everyone's taxes go up, everyone, in this room, everyone, around the country, unless the house passes the bill that the senate passed which would extend tax cuts for 98% of the american people and 97% of small businesses and the beauty of that partial solution to the fiscal cliff is that everyone supports it everyone, democrat

and republican. supports extending those tax cuts for the middle class, extending them for 98% of the american people and 97% of the small businesses. so as you heard the president say on friday, as you'll hear him say when he meets with you tomorrow, you know, this is a step that the white house -- i mean that the washington can take that would create certainty for almost all americans, certainly for almost all small businesses, would help alleviate some of the potential damage caused by -- that could be caused by the fiscal cliff -- >> white house press secretary jay carney, the daily briefing, getting more attention than normal there, making the case here regarding the scandal that the president still does have faith in general allen, faith in leading the war in afghanistan, that he thinks high life general allen, according to jay carney saying that the president was surprised to hear about the former cia director general patreaus' affair and but accepted his resignation earlier

in the week and also emphasizing, as well, the timing of when the white house and the president notified about the problems and the scandal involving both top generals on wednesday getting the news about yenl patrea general patreaus, on friday the news about general allen. we'll have more on this with jen socky and the president's plans to move forward in his second term. [ male announcer ] this is bob,

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i want to bring in jen psaki. a very hard worker. i promise -- >> how are you? >> good. congratulations. we will get to the policy questions in a moment. but let's first deal with what is on the table here. saw jay carney a lot of questions about the scandal. one of the things i want to follow up here, and i think several reporters were trying to get to this, jay carney said a couple of times it was fbi protocol when the president was notify ed, you have an investigation that happens weeks, if not months but notified of general patreaus wednesday and general allen on friday. is the president satisfied that this is -- that he was notified in a timely manner? his satisfied with the fbi protocol in. >> well, i would refer to what jay said. he said the president is surprised this isn't what you're looking for the first week that you're elected. that the administration's moving swiftly on it and i expect they'll see it through.

in the meantime i think that people will be looking for answers and the administration's looking to find the answers that the american people are looking for. >> do you know if there's anything afoot, any effort made on the white house behalf to change the fbi protocol so the president would be notified of these kind of problems earlier? >> that's not something i would be in the loop on. i don't work in the white house anymore. but you know protocols are in place for a reason. the president was informed, the administration acted quickly. as you know there's an investigation under way by the i.g. at department of defense. and i expect as soon as there are details to be shared, those will be shared. >> the president obviously needs to get the security team in place. secretary panetta has asked the president, at least to put off general allen's confirmation hearings for nato command position. do you have any sense of how long that would be put off, if there's any kind of deadline or some sort of guidance in terms of how long that's going to last? >> i do not. from being there i expect they'll be taking it day-to-day.

they want people in place. the president has every confidence as jay mentioned in the personnel who are in place at this time. i expect there will be -- they'll be taking it day by day. >> tomorrow the president has his first press conference after the re-election. he's going to get a lot of questions about this. how much of this, jen, is a distraction to what you need to do moving forward? >> welsh the president, of all people, knows you don't govern in a bubble. he learned that in the first four year of his administration. he has an agenda to push forward, resolving the fiscal cliff, getting to second term agenda, whether it's tax reform, many item his talked about on the campaign trail. i expect he'll be fully prepared to answer questions. but he, like many other people in the white house and the administration, are going to be seeing through these investigations that are under way already. >> we know that jay said the

president's not made any decisions regarding cabinet members or cabinet shakeup. he's meeting with labor leaders behind closed doors and business leaders tomorrow. what his hoping to accomplish? >> one of the lessons learned from the first term you have to take the case to the american people. people are looking for less talk and more action and part is having conversations with labor leaders and business leaders. he'll be meeting with civic leaders about resolving the fiscal cliff, what happens moving forward. i expect that will be a big topic on the agenda today. and in the week ahead. >> is there any indication from the president that he is hopeful they're able to avoid the fiscal cliff, the automatic spending cuts and the tax hikes that would go into effect next year? >> i think every indication. this is one of the topics discussed during the election and the president nearly every day said we can't afford to extend tax cuts to the high income. we can take a step to make sure middle class families know their

tax cuts are extended. that's something the american people heard from them. you saw exit polls coming out of the election more than 60% of the american public thinks tax cuts on the highest income we no longer can afford them. so you know i do think that that's part of the conversation, a part of the decision making process. the president has a flan plapla place. we can move forward on this. he's hopeful members of congress can come to an agreement and avoid the fiscal cliff january 1st. new details on the scandal surrounding former cia director general patreaus. live from the pentagon next. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one.

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scandal involving former cia director general patreaus. barbara starr from the pentagon. what are we learning? >> reporter: we are now hearing

from two individuals who have knowledge of this that general john allen has adamantly denied he had any inappropriate relationship, any extramarital affair, with julie kelley. we have been told by a pentagon official that general allen directly denied this when asked to his bosses, we're told it's not panetta he denied it to but another senior official above him and nick patton walsh is getting a statement from someone close to general allen and it says, quote, there is no affair. she's a bored, rich socialite because she's worked as an ambassador. general allen has never been alone with her, that they have apparently all mingled at social events and general allen goes everywhere with his wife.

this said, it is still the case that general allen is under investigation by the inspector general for what the pentagon is calling inappropriately flir tation e-mails with jewell, the woman paula broadwell thought was moving in on david patreaus. broadwell sent e-mails to kelley and that's what started all of this. general allen now dragged in. where are we? inspector general is still investigating general allen, whether he had inappropriate e-mails to kelley but general allen's saying through intermediaries he did not have an affair with this woman. >> this might be a basic question here. if there are flirtatious e-mails back and forth, is that grounds for dismissal or punishment? >> reporter: right. >> what is that in the military role? >> reporter: what are we talking about here? if you call someone sweetheart or hon in an e-mail, can you

lose your career over that? we asked that question around the pentagon and you get nonspecific answers. basically, under military law, anything you do, as an officer, especially a senior officer, that brings discredit on the military, you can be held liable for. they -- i mean the blunt fact is, they can get you if they want to get you. that's the actual reality here. so depending on what these e-mails show, depending on what was said, depending on what the intent was, i think this will all come out. but you know it is interesting. defense secretary panetta went right to the inspector general and sought a full investigation. no review, no analysis, none of the intermediary steps. >> barbara starr. two weeks ago this area in new york was on fire. superstorm sandy carved a path of destruction. a look at devastation that still remains. m ting... anne's tablet called my phone.

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>> reporter: there are a lot of people who are suffering. and, as you can see, it's raining, it's a very cold day in bal harbour, new york and we spoke with the people who lost their property, lost their homes, and they gave us one word -- overwhelmed. this is why. take a look, beach 130th here in bal harbour and the houses have been burned to their foundation. the difficulty when telling this type of story that is people are used to seeing this on a television screen, right? but typically it's a movie or a television studio. these are homes. people lived here. this was a nest egg for one man. we spoke with ron wall, who owns a house to my right and he got a message from his neighbor. it was just two orders in a text, and it said, it's gone. when you heard those two words, it's gone, what did you feel? >> oh, dread. this is my life savings. i don't have a mortgage. this is my retirement, kid's

college. this was -- still is -- i hope to collect. it's overwhelming. i still can't believe it, that a week ago this -- two weeks ago this was a house. >> reporter: it was his nest egg, his retirement plan. hoping it still can be, once he gets all of the information back from his insurance adjuster who he met with today. suzanne? >> is there much help that these folks are getting where you are? >> reporter: the cleanup has begun. you can see some work is happening behind me. out to rock away beach where we saw bull dozers taking sand our the streets that went in for several blocks. putting it through sifting machines to rebuild the beach and get rid of the debris. also the boardwalk was ripped apart so they're going to start rebuilding that soon. we saw a towel, someone had writ ain't phrase on at the beach and said" never retreat, never surrender, not now, not ever,

rockaway forever" the community's determined to return. >> good for them. if you want to help the storm victims in the northeast, it's easy to do. log onto to cnn.com/impact. find all kinds of information, how to contribute to the leaf effort. go to the site? new details keep coming out about the former director of the cia and what people are saying about this affair.

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that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank. your money needs an ally. hi there. on the help desk talking about your mortgage. with me, greg olson and carmen wong ulrich. carmen, this question's for you. >> a single parent who manages a lot of different finances, what is best way to get ahead with my mortgage and to ensure that i am maximum midsing the value of my home? >> what is best way? >> a great question because it's what she should not be focused

on now. mortgage is cheap money. something you need to pay on time every time. as a single parent one in six single parents declare bankruptcy. protect yourself for than anyone who is in a couple with emergency fund, retirement savings those take priority over prepaying mortgages. best thing you're doing is paying on time. >> don't be in a rush to pay off the mortgage. look to pay other things off. >> exactly. hopefully she went with 30-year mortgage that's the only time that inflation is working for you. inflation works against your investments long term but when you have a 30-year north debt inflation works for you. make monthly payments on time. she has a low interest rate environment in mortgage so it's not an opportunity to refinance but if there's an opportunity she can do that as well. >> if you've got an issue you want experts to tackle, upload 30-second video to ireport.com. >> getting news in here. senator diane feinstein telling

dana bash she hopes to call in former cia director general patreaus into a closed session to have him come in and answer some questions, perhaps as early as friday. their committee, of course, intelligence committee, looking into the matter of benghazi, the attack on benghazi, when and what officials knew at a particular time, whether or not the cia and the white house and the pentagon properly protected official whose were there on the ground who were killed in that attack. patreaus having stepped down as head of the cia over the scandal, she's hoping certainly that least in closed session they'll be able to get answers from him, perhaps as early as friday. patreaus scandal raising a lot of questions as well. members of congress want to know why they weren't informed earlier. there's a lot of regret. you have a stellar military career ending this way, people have been involved in scandals on their own are reluctant to throw stones.

former governor mcgreevey, here's what he said. >> i'm sure there will be plenty of people to cast stones and those stones will be thrown. it's just that when you look at general patreaus you look at general allen, these are exceptional men and that clearly there were inappropriate or seemingly was inappropriate relationship. >> i am puzzled by much of what has occurred in the fbi investigation and also the latest information that perhaps general patreaus' friend had access to some cleveland information. i will say that i think it's absolutely imperative that general patreaus come and testify. >> it's a very sad situation to have a distinguished career like that end in this man. >> i agree with secretary

panetta, who said that we absolutely there should have been notification of the intelligence congressional leadership as is the proper protocol, long before it occurred. >> if you want to know more about the story, the scandal surrounding former general patreaus ris visit security clearance on cnn.com. it's only been a week but it leaves funny moments to remember. a look back the 2012 election up next.i' ervative investor. i invest in what i know. i turned 65 last week. i'm getting married. planning a life. there are risks, sure. but, there's no reward without it. i want to be prepared for the long haul. i see a world bursting with opportunities. india, china, brazil, ishares, small-caps, large-caps, ishares. industrials. low cost. every dollar counts. ishares. income. dividends. bonds. i like bonds. ishares. commodities. diversification. choices. my own ideas. ishares. i want to use the same stuff the big guys use. ishares.

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ideas and big issues. which is the kind of campaign we wanted to run, so we ran the kind of campaign we wanted to run and just wasn't enough at the end of the day. we had to accept that. >> congressman ryan brushed aside any talk of a 2016 white house run, telling the milwaukee journal sentinel i think we're all tired of presidential politics at this time. presidential race might be over, but it left us with some pretty unforgettable moments. >> we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. i went to a number of women's groups and said, can you help us find folks and they brought us whole binders full of women. >> comedian dino banelic has the funny moments from the presidential race up next. [ man ] in hong kong, on my way to the board meeting...

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what a difference a week

makes. remember last tuesday, yeah, just a week ago that was election night. and just seven days ago the country was hyped up about the long lines in florida, voter i.d. laws and, of course, ohio, ohio, ohio. now we got this bizarre pentagon scandal stealing the headlines. our friend and comedian dino badelli is joining us. i can't believe it was a week ago, just a week ago, like, i mean, i don't even get it. >> i miss it so much. i still check the polls every day to see if there is any changes. there is no new polls. i was obsessed with the election. i'm coming down to earth now and relaxing. >> you know what, i love it, because you gave us some real highlights, moments that we're going to remember for a good long time. one of those highlights, of course, a lot of bloopers that everybody made and yet you have a list of your favorites here, starting with herman cain and foreign policy. let's listen. >> and would ask me who is the president of ubeki-stan, stan,

i'm going to say i don't know. do you know? >> this is a man i wanted to get the republican presidential nominee. you know how much funnier this campaign would have been if herman cain was the nominee? i think big ratings, i think people would tune in and watch. >> you also love this one too, this is one that kind of raised a lot of eyebrows. the binders of women with romney and the second presidential debate. >> i said, well, gosh, can't we find some women that are also qualified? and so we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. i went to a number of women's groups and said can you help us find folks and they brought us whole binders full of women. >> you used that quite a bit. that got a lot of -- it was a

lot going on after that. i don't think he meant it to be funny, but it was a lot of fodder afterwards. >> when i was a teenage, i had binders full of women i hid under my bed so my mom couldn't find them. that and big bird were the two big things with mitt. >> i want to play the clip, the president singing. because that really kind of turned the corner for some folks who thought, you know, he wasn't being warm and it was kind of dry. started singing. let's listen. >> sure. ♪ i'm so in love with you >> so, i know a lot of people who turned that into their ring tone on their phone. >> really? >> i kid you not. people were really that enamored by that moment. what do you make of that? >> it is a great moment. a very warm moment. and he carried a tune, which is nice. mitt romney also sang during the

campaign, sang america the beautiful. we should have had american presidential -- put them up, let them sing. i think more young people would have voted in this election. it was a great moment. it makes them human to be honest with you. makes the president a human being and it is a nice quality. >> one thing that wasn't human that was really weird was this clint eastwood chair little thing he did at the rnc. let's watch. >> how do you handle it? what do you say to people? do you just, you know, i know people -- >> all right, dean. wrap it up for us. that was the moment. >> it was very funny. looked more like a commercial for ginkgo biloba, some memory loss product. i think clint eastwood, i thought he was more endearing and funny, i'm sure mitt romney backstage not laughing at all. but clint eastwood was funny. he should tour the country, him and the chair. >> i can't believe still it wa